Wire-stretcher.



W. C. BARNES & G. A OPPERMAN.

' WIRE STRETCHER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 7,1914.

1,119,671. Patented Dec.1,1914.

- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM C. BARNES AND CONRAD A. OPPERMAN, F EVANSVILLE, INDIANA.

Applieationfiled May 7, 1914. seriaim. 373001.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM C. BARNES and CONRAD A. OPPERMAN, citizens of the United States, residing at Evansville, in the county of Vanderburg and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wire-Stretchers; and we do declare the following to be a. full, clear,

. and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make anduse the same.

Our invention relates to improvements in wire stretcher-s and more particularly to those which are designed for stretching Woven wire fences, although its applica-.

tion need not be limited in this respect.

The primary object of the invention is -to provide a device of this character which may be simply and inexpensively con-- passing through said nut, and said slot and,

adapted to bear against the fence post.

A secondary object of the invention is to form the various parts in such a manner as to allow the screw to be adjusted verti cally and to prevent said nut from rotating.

Still another object of the invention is to provide simple and eflicient means for clamping the wire to be stretched.

With these objects in View, the invention resides in certain novel features of construction and combination herein described and claimed and shown in the drawings wherein Figure 1 is a perspective View of a portion of a fence showing the application of our invention; Fig. 2 is an end view; Fig. 3 is a vertical section showing more particularly the location of the nut and screw; Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken on the line H of Fig. 2; and Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the pronged head.

In the accompanying drawings we have shown our invention as comprising an upright channel shaped memberl, a clamp 2 for clamping the wire to said member, a

nut 3 within said member and a crank Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 1, 1914. 1

driven screw 4: which is threaded through saidnut and operates loosely through an upright slot 5 formed in the member 1. a

As clearly. shown in the various figures of the drawings, the upright member 1 comprises a pair of angle iron bars 6 which are spaced throughout their lengths by up per and lower spacing blocks 7 to which their parallel flanges 8 are secured by means of bolts 9 or other suitable fastening means. The upper and lower ends of said parallel flanges 8 are turned inwardly as indicated at 10 and forced into contact with the outer ends of said spacing blocks, this formation assisting in imparting rigidity to the device.

As most clearly shown in Figs; 2 and 4, the slot 5 is formed byconstructing the inwardly extending flanges 11 of the bars 6, of less width than the width of the spac- Mounted adj ustably within the member 1 and contacting with all of the flanges of said member is the rectangular nut 3 which is thus held against rotation and is allowed to freely slide vertically for a purpose to appear. As before suggested,. it .is through extends, said screw being provided on one end with an operating crank 12 while its opposite end carries a swiveled head 13 stretched.

vthe nut 3 and the .slot'f5 that the screw 4 which is provided with a number of prongs The above mentioned clamp 2 includes one of the angle iron bars 6 which is corrugated as indicated at 15 for the purpose of more securely clamping the wire and is pro? vided with a number of U-bolts or loops 16 which are are disposed at'suitable intervals throughout its length, said loops 16 passing through transverse slots 17 in a movable corrugated clamping plate 18 and being de signed to receive clamp operating members.

in the form of levers 19 having their upper I ends formed into hooks 20, said hooks increasing in width fromtheir bills 21 to the points at which they join the levers 19.. It will thus be seen that a cam action is exerted upon the clamping plate 18 when the levers are forced downwardly, thus securely clamping the wire of the fence between the fixed and movable members of the clamp.

mg blocks, the space between said flanges 11 constituting the slot.

It will be further seen that by merely removingthe hooks from the loops, the entire movable clamp plate may be removed.

The operation of the device is as follows: The upright member 1 is clamped upon the fence F by the means previously described and the screw and nut are positioned as illustrated in the drawings, the head 14 of said screw now contacting with one of the posts P. It will thus be seen that rotation of the screw 4, in the proper direction, will cause the member 1 to recede from the post, thereby effectually stretchingthe wire. In most cases, in order to prevent the stretcher from shifting laterally, it becomes neces sary to provide a pair of stay chains 22 which may be secured to other posts or suitable supports by means of hooks 23. By mounting the. screw and nut in the above described manner, it will be seen that vertical adjustment of these parts is allowed, this feature becoming advantageousin case it becomes necessary to stretch one edge of the fence a greater amount than the other edge thereof.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be seen that we have produced a comparatively simple device for carrying out the objects of the invention, yet one which will be efiicient in operation and which may be inexpensively manufactured.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A wire stretcher including an upright maples of this patent may be obtained for channel shaped member composed of a pair of spaced upright angle iron bars, spacing blocks between the ends thereof and spacing their inwardly extending flanges to provide an upright slot, the ends of the parallel flanges of said bars being bent inwardly into engagement with the outer ends of said spacing blocks. a rectangular nut between said angle iron bars and contacting with both flanges thereof, a screw passing through said slot and the, nut and a handle for rotating the sc ew.

21 A wire stretcher comprising an upright channel-shaped member having parallel side flanges and longitudinal flanges extending inwardly therefrom, said inwardly extending flanges having their facing edges spaced substantially throughout their lengths Whereby to providean upright slot, a rectangular nut within said channel-shaped member and having fiat faces contacting with all of the flanges thereof, a horizontal screw passing through the upright slot and through the nut, means whereby said screw may be rotated, and means whereby said channelshaped member may be attached to the wire to be stretched. A

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in presence of two subscribing witnesses. v

WiLLIAM o. BARNES.

CONRAD A. OPPERMAN.

Witnesses WILLIAM A. WALLER, Z. L. WVoLrn.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

